Russian personnel have captured at the least one Leopard 2 tank and a number of Bradley infantry combating autos in Ukraine’s Zaporozhye Area, as confirmed by new footage launched by the Russian Defence Ministry. The footage reveals Russian personnel inspecting the Western equipped armour, with one seemingly excited soldier circling them and remarking that a few of them had their engines nonetheless working. “This [explicit] {hardware} isn’t as scary because it appeared,” he was heard saying. Whereas it was beforehand speculated that Russian personnel might have solely accessed the autos briefly, earlier than returning to their defensive positions, Russians on the sources have since reported that the property had been captured. Sharing the footage on social media, the Defence Ministry referred to the Western autos as “our trophies,” including that their situation“signifies the speedy tempo of the engagement and the abandonment of the battle-ready {hardware} by the Ukrainian armed forces.” Whereas Ukraine has beforehand deployed solely older armour to the frontlines primarily Soviet T-64 tanks which it inherited in 1991, new generations of tanks equipped have begun to look way more ceaselessly in main offensives initiated in early June.
The Leopard 2A6 captured on this case is without doubt one of the most succesful courses fielded in NATO, with these equipped to Ukraine in very restricted numbers alongside bigger numbers of a lot older and fewer succesful Leopard 2A4 and Leopard 1 tanks. The Leopard 2A4 beforehand proved extremely weak even in opposition to non state paramilitary forces when deployed by Turkish forces in Syria and Iraq. This vulnerability is considered a purpose why Germany was initially extremely hesitant to permit the supply of Leopard 2s to Ukraine, lest its most excessive profile defence product be additional discredited. In response to the heavy losses Ukrainian armour has taken, the US has pledged to exchange Bradley combating autos misplaced and to offer depleted uranium ammunition – becoming a member of Britain which introduced in March that it might even be supplying the extremely controversial munitions to enhance the anti armour capabilities of Ukrainian tanks and infantry combating autos.
Within the battle that noticed a Leopard 2A6 disabled and deserted a second tank of the identical class was proven in shut up aerial footage burning and utterly destroyed. Whereas the destruction of a number of Leopard 2s has been reported, it stays unsure whether or not extra of those have additionally been from the comparatively fashionable A6 variant or whether or not others had been from the extra extensively used Leopard 2A4 class. Russian Vikhr-1 missiles launched by assault helicopters such because the Ka-52 Alligator have reportedly been liable for a big portion of Ukraine’s armour losses.
The worth of capturing a Leopard 2A6 stays questionable, as whereas it may probably enable the Russian Army to higher develop technique of countering the autos, the repeatedly demonstrated limitations of the German design imply Russia can seemingly be assured that its present property are greater than capable of neutralise it. Moreover, apart from Poland’s newly acquired South Korean K2 tanks, whereas Russia doesn’t face any critical disadvantages in its armoured warfare capabilities in comparison with NATO, explicit because it has now belatedly put its fashionable T-90M tank into very giant scale mass manufacturing, the first challenges Russia faces from NATO stay within the air and in area. Demonstration that not solely the Leopard 2A4, but additionally the brand new A6 variant, are restricted of their survivability in opposition to fashionable Russian anti armour capabilities, might properly spur NATO members together with Germany to speed up work on future generations of tanks. Russia has already developed a subsequent technology tank beneath the T-14 program, though critical delays in growth imply that this isn’t but fielded on a significant scale regardless of having made preliminary deployments to Ukraine in April.
